


Circles

by Hagar



Category: Power Rangers Mystic Force
Genre: College, Cross-cultural, F/M, Families of Choice, Family, First Relationships, Freshman Year, Gen, Male-Female Friendship, PR: Blue Confidence Issues, PR: Dating A Teammate, PR: Retired Rangers to the Rescue, PR: Second Career, PR: Team is Family, PR: You Actually Have Parents, STH Continuity, Therapy, Young Adults, after the war
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-07
Updated: 2014-01-07
Packaged: 2018-01-02 23:26:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1062919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hagar/pseuds/Hagar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After all, it's not the end of the world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Circles

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Arrowned](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arrowned/gifts).



> Love and thanks to Sailor Sol and wildforce71, who beta'ed.
> 
> This story assumes the events of [See the Silence](http://archiveofourown.org/series/6430) for Ninja Storm. The only thing you need to know is that it went way darker than canon.
> 
> If you want to know how come Katie’s in this time period, read Sol’s story, [Not Broken, Just Bent](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1105048). Yes, those stories are in the same continuity. No, we didn’t plan this, it just happened.

_Monday, September 25, 2006_

 

Xander caught up with Maddie on the trail leading from the Oakes College residential halls up to Eight Quad, where the Oaks/Eight dining hall was.

“We share just the one class, right?”

“Yes,” Maddie replied. “Which should be easy to remember as we only have three classes each quarter.”

“And we don’t hang out together outside of mealtimes, right? Values And Change is not exactly work-intense, so far.”

“What’s going on, Xander?” Maddie asked.

He grimaced. “Linda Fawkes.”

“Linda from Economics to Accounting? What about her?”

Xander scowled. “She thinks we’re dating.”

Maddie stiffled a giggle.

“It’s not funny!” Xander said, openly exasperated.

“It kind of is.”

“No, it’s not.”

“I’ll tell you what. I’ll call Nick and tell him to come say hi, okay? Just tell me where Linda’s going to be, so she won’t miss the display.”

“Badass biker older boyfriend won’t hurt your social rep, either.”

“What, badass biker older sister not good enough?” Tori said cheerfully, having popped out out of nowhere. “Who do I need to beat up?”

When Maddie and Xander applied for Santa Cruz, the Mystical War was still raging. They certainly didn’t know that they would have friends among the upperclassmen. But Kira and Trent had come to Briarwood over the summer, looking for the team. Three months later, Maddie and Xander had the advantage of being friends with a junior and a senior who knew their way around in more than the literal sense. Ethan was more absorbed in his own activities, but Tori had already made herself known on Maddie’s floor. This resulted in the Oakes College upperclassmen taking an interest in Maddie: Tori had a reputation tracing back to her freshman days in the College Eight dorms, and Eight and Oakes were close.

“Tori, would you please stop doing that?” Xander asked. “Are you _trying_ to give me a heart attack?”

“If I was, you’d be on the floor by now.”

“Because that makes me feel so much better.”

“Xander needs to convince the girl he’s asked out that I’m not his girlfriend,” Maddie explained.

Tori snorted. “Already? You two are going to be getting a lot of that.”

“Is there anybody on this campus who had ever not known that you and Blake are together?”

“High school,” Tori said emphatically.

“Nobody in high school ever thought I was dating either Maddie _or_ Vida.”

“That’s because they’ve known us since ever, Xander.”

Tori rolled her eyes. “Because Nick is going to object _so_ much to making a point of being with you.”

That made Maddie grimace. Nick had a flare for the theatrics, when he had a point to make. “Actually, I might have a problem with that.”

“I’m so glad I’m not dating you,” Xander muttered.

Maddie rolled her eyes, and then turned her attention to Tori. Blake had been home for all of a week after the AMA Motocross season had ended, and now he was gone again as of four days before; the Motocross des Nations was being held in the UK that year. Ethan had warned Maddie that Tori didn’t deal with being home alone all that well - which Maddie could’ve figured for herself, given her experience with the ninjas - but it was difficult to tell how Tori was doing. The shield of makeup made it impossible to tell if she was pale, or if there were shadows under her eyes; and Tori was far too good at lying with her body. Ultimately, it was a matter of a hunch.

Maddie glanced around - they were almost at the Quad - and bumped her shoulder against Tori, discretely transferring a pulse of Blue-tinged Water Magic. “Good morning?” she asked.

Tori grinned in reply. “Now it is.”

 

* * *

_Saturday, September 30, 2006_

 

“And then I stepped out of class,” Maddie continued, firmly ignoring her sister’s and LeeLee’s snickers, “and guess who’s leaning back against the biggest of his bikes, wearing _that_ jacket.”

It was Saturday afternoon, and they were sitting around Rootcore. Well, most of them were. Leanbow, Daggeron and Chip were off doing knightly things, and Clare was was out gathering herbs.

“What jacket?” Phineas asked.

“Ooh, the black leather one with the demon wings on the back?” LeeLee asked.

“They’re not demon wings!” Nick protested.

“Oh?” LeeLee leaned forward, chin resting in her palm. “Then what are they? Do tell. Because they’re very big, very red wings. Personally? I like that jacket.”

Nick shifted in his chair and glanced at his mom for help. Predictably, Udonna gave him a look which translated as _You got yourself into this mess, Bowen,_ and turned her attention back to her book.

“You didn’t even hear the best part yet,” Maddie said.

“Did your menacing boyfriend actually hit anybody?” Vida asked, highly amused.

“Yes, you,” Nick said, shoving at her shoulder. Or trying to - he didn’t try too hard, and Vida grabbed his wrist and pulled. They tumbled into one another and toppled over with their chairs, landing on the floor.

“They’re wiping the floor with each other!” Phineas declared. LeeLee hid her laughter in his shoulder.

“Children!” Udonna said.

Nick and Vida stopped tussling.

“Sorry, Mom.”

“Sorry, Udonna.”

They turned their chairs right way up and settled in.

“So, you were saying? Best part?” LeeLee offered.

“Nick here was standing there, leaning against _that_ bike, wearing _that_ jacket, and holding a single, long-stem rose. Red, of course.”

“Well, he wasn’t going to bring you _pink_ roses,” Vida said, glaring at Nick. He glared back at her.

As much as Maddie appreciated that her sister and her boyfriend got along, it would be nicer if their preferred form of showing affection wasn’t constantly fighting and competing.

“What, not a whole bouquet?” Phineas asked.

“No, because that would be embarrassing,” Nick retorted.

“Would it?” Phineas asked, sounding confused.

LeeLee turned his head gently to kiss his cheek. “For Maddie, Phineas. Not for me.”

 

* * *

_Wednesday, 18 October, 2006_

 

Maddie sat down on the chair across the library desk from Xander. He looked up from his book, startled.

“What are you doing here?”

“What are _you_ doing here?”

“I asked first.”

“Mark called me,” she replied. “He said he lost his roommate. Again.”

“Well, clearly, I’m not lost.”

“No, but a few more days like that, and Mark’s going to start wondering if you’re real or a figment of his imagination.”

Xander snorted.

“It’s getting on midnight, Xander,” Maddie pointed out.

“I have classwork.”

“We’re the only freshmen here,” she said gently. She leaned across the desk and pulled at the book he was reading. He didn’t try to stop her. “Principles of Marketing? That’s not until next year, isn’t it?” She knew Xander’s course schedule like she knew her own. He didn’t have marketing this year; he had accounting, applied statistics and introduction to microeconomics - and ethics of engineering, which Xander managed to sneak in as his Social Science Topic requirement.

“Well, Cam, Justin and Dustin are developing things _now,_ ” Xander retorted in a hissed whisper. “And not one of them has any clue what to do once they have a product in hand. At least Justin has _some_ sense how to develop for a market.”

Maddie blinked. “How serious is this?”

Xander snorted. “Define ‘serious’.”

“Well, how far along are they in the development?”

Xander looked at her as if he despaired of her intelligence. “It’s _Cam._ And _Justin._ You know what Dustin gets like when he’s got stuff to build, and Ethan’s putting all the video game design education into good use making simulators. Between them, they could probably put up an entire catalogue in no more than six months.”

“They’d need production lines.”

“That includes setting up production lines. Cam has… _help._ ”

 _CyberCam,_ Maddie translated. Yes, okay; Cam could set up the R &D and production parts of a company - but those alone were not enough. “This is only year one, Xander,” Maddie said gently. Xander couldn’t stand in for the entire administrative backbone a tech firm needed, let alone in his freshman year.

“Just this one thing, Maddie,” he replied. The tone of his voice indicated that he knew exactly how crazy a situation he was walking into. “That’s the one thing nobody else can do. This is about _people,_ about…”

“It’s what you’re good at,” she agreed quietly. And he was.

“Cam could fail to sell heating systems to the residents of the north pole, I swear.”

Maddie snorted; she couldn’t help it. “He _is_ that bad, isn’t he.”

“Yes, he is.”

“And if you stay up this late two more nights, Mark’s going to wonder if he really does have a roommate, or if he hallucinated you. And if you stay up this late even _one_ more night,” she continued, overriding Xander, “then I’m going to tell Udonna you’re trying to live off of magic.”

He snapped his mouth shut. After a second, he said: “You wouldn’t!”

“Oh yes I would,” she replied firmly. She pushed herself up. “Five hours of sleep a night, Xander.”

“Not seven?” he asked sullenly.

“That’s highly unrealistic.”

He shut the book and pushed himself up. “Or six?”

“I know you, Xander. I’m not negotiating with you.”

He snorted. “You sure know how to soothe an injured ego, Maddie.”

She put an arm around his waist as she led him outside the library. “Well, like I said: I know you.”

 

* * *

_Sunday, October 29, 2006_

 

The house was quiet when Maddie woke up in mid-morning. Quiet, and smelling like her dad’s hash browns, which was why she wasn’t surprised to find him in the kitchen, reading the newspaper over a cup of tea.

“Morning, Dad.”

“Morning, sunshine,” he replied, closing the newspaper and setting it aside. “It was a nice surprise to see you came back here last night.”

“More like early this morning,” she admitted as she sat down across from him and reached for the orange juice.

His eyebrows shot up. “I don’t think you ever stayed up that late for a party. Even for one of your sister’s parties.”

“This was something else,” she admitted. “It wasn’t like the parties we used to throw in school, you know? Or even like the ones she did early last summer.”

“Was it because of the fancy club?” he asked, deadpan.

“No, Dad,” she replied with a smile.

“She wouldn’t shut up about the place.”

“Six Below is a step up, and she earned this. You know how hard she’s been working. And she, Kira and Cassie _really_ worked on this program. They got a good thing with each other, there.”

“I admit to still being getting used to clubbing being a real job.”

“It is when you’re the DJ.”

“So when did you get in?”

“Around three in the morning, four maybe? That was when the party ended. Everyone else was talking about moving on to an afterparty.”

“Does ‘everyone’ include that boyfriend of yours?”

Her dad’s tone was teasing, so Maddie replied with a smile. “Yes, Dad, ‘everyone’ includes Nick.”

“I see. So you came here to hide from whatever your sister and your boyfriend might’ve gotten up to when you weren’t there to keep them in line.”

“Dad!” she protested.

He was right, though. It was the weekend of Halloween, and she’d left Vida, Nick and Chip cruising the high of a rave into dawn. She hadn’t yet dared to check the texts they’d left on her phone since.

“Just kidding, honey.” Her dad pushed himself up, pressing a kiss to her temple as he did so. “Now, how about I heat up those hash browns for you?”

 

* * *

_Thursday, November 9, 2006_

 

“Come in!” Maddie called in response to the knock on the door. It was evening - night, really - and she was alone in her dorm room. Layla, her roommate, liked working in shared spaces, leaving the room to Maddie as often as not.

The door creaked open, letting Ethan in.

“Ethan,” Maddie said, surprised. It was the first time Ethan sought her out outside of their usual social time at meals - at least, since the very first weeks of classes.

“Hi, Maddie.” He closed the door behind him and set down on the bed. “How are you?” He looked - cautious, she thought. This wasn’t just a social call.

“I’m fine,” she replied. “Life as usual, you know. Starting to really feel the quarter.”

He scoffed, but he didn’t actually say _Your entire class schedule is fluff._

“How are you?” she asked.

“Fine,” he said. “Planning to get out of Dodge for the weekend.”

“Actually, I was thinking about spending more time here this weekend,” she admitted. Saturday would be Veterans’ Day; the college gave them Friday off, making it a three-day weekend. “I heard Veterans’ Day is a really big deal here.”

“Yeah, that’s why you want to get out. I made the same mistake my freshman year. Now, I know you can get out whenever you want provided there’s a tree within walking range, but - no, Maddie, listen to me, okay? For the next three days, this town is about to go way war-what-is-it-good-for. I saw you the week of September 21st, Maddie. You don’t want to be here for this, not this year. Trust me.”

September 21st was the anniversary of the day Nick had arrived in Briarwood, the day the rest of them followed Vida and he into the forest and became Rangers. It fell during the first week of the quarter; that ended up being far more distracting and distressing than Maddie had expected it to, given that her team had been spared the angst that some teams went through after their term.

“Are you getting out of town?” she asked.

“I’m going to spend the next three days at Cam’s lab, testing my last simulator with Justin.”

“Is that code for ‘hiding in a cave playing video games’?” She teased.

“Yes,” he replied, easily and without shame.

After a moment, she asked: “Do you know why November 11 is Veterans’ Day?”

“Yes,” he replied promptly. “It’s Armistice Day.”

“They called it The Great War.” _They didn’t think there’d be another,_ she thought. _And then, twenty years later…_

Ethan was looking at her intently.

This was going to haunt her for the next few days, she knew: _And then, twenty years later._ Except Udonna had known, had spent nineteen years preparing for the Second War. Still, that made Veterans’ Day feel oddly, intensely personal.

Did she want to spend this day on the streets of Santa Cruz, trying to make her two worlds come together despite the anonymity she had to bear in the human world? Or did she want to spend it with family? Unlike Udonna and Leanbow and Daggeron, Nick would _know_ \- and his parents would want to.

It could be a good day to bring Briarwood and the Forest together just a little bit more. She really should have thought of that in advance. Still, it wasn’t too late.

Ethan was still looking at her.

“Thanks,” she said quietly.

He nodded. “Sure thing.”

 

* * *

_Sunday, December 3, 2006_

 

Come exam week, Maddie found herself spending considerable parts of the day at Tori and Blake’s. The libraries were open till midnight, but the libraries were also packed full with other students and Maddie couldn’t take that for days on end. She’d taken over the spare bedroom at Tori and Blake’s place; Tori herself had taken over the living room, closer to where Blake was cooking.

Blake cooked. A lot. Most Rangers' metabolism returned to normal within a year of their last morph, but that wasn't necessarily true for teams that had ended up drawing on too much Power. Magic smoothed things over for Maddie and her team, but ninja metabolism made for a higher baseline than normal even if one was not a Ranger.

This time, it was the smell of cookies that made Maddie lift her head from her notes.

“Blake,” she said exasperatedly.

“Your brain needs food,” he informed her as he set the plate on the desk.

“My brain is very well-fed, thank you.”

“What is it today?” He looked over her shoulder. “Sociology? You definitely need the brain food.”

“Blake, seriously, I can’t eat all this.” She considered the shortbread. “Maybe I’ll do like Ethan.” Ethan regularly mooched off Tori and Blake’s leftovers, and what he didn’t eat himself he traded off.

Blake dropped down on the bed. “The going rate on shortbread is great. But even double-fudge brownies won’t get you sexual favors.”

“Blake!”

“I’m just saying.”

She couldn’t decide if she was more scandalized or amused. At least, until laughter got the better of her.

Judging by Blake’s expression, that was precisely the result he’d been aiming for.

 

* * *

_Thursday, 7 December, 2006_

 

The people of Briarwood and the Forest had had nine months to learn to live together, but Christmas brought up all the tensions that remained and a few that hadn’t surfaced before. Most of the problem had been on the Briarwood end of things, really: the people of the Forest simply didn’t know enough about the human world. But for the people of Briarwood, the involvement of magic and magical beings sharpened all the tensions that existed anyway. Nick and LeeLee had done their best, but LeeLee hadn’t been exactly raised in an ordinary human way herself and Nick was, well, Nick; and Chip (Vida would wryly note later) had never quite lived in the same world as everyone else anyway and that was before he all but moved from Briarwood to the Forest.

That was how, not four hours after having returned to Briarwood for winter break, Xander and Maddie were already up to their neck in mediation.

 

* * *

_Monday, 26 December, 2006_

 

Maddie woke to the sound of her name. She blinked as she turned her head away from the pillow. “Clare?” she said groggily.

Clare was standing over her bed, wide-eyed. “Are you awake?”

“Ugh.” Maddie pushed herself up. “Sort of. What’s going on?” The house - her parents’ house - was still quiet; Maddie didn’t really want to know how Clare got in, but she strongly suspected it involved a portal. And besides…Maddie swung her legs over the side of the bed. Suddenly, she was very awake. “Aren’t you supposed to be with Cam? What happened?”

Cam hated Christmas. A lot. Maddie didn’t ask; Cam’s team were protective of him over it, and the ninjas being protective of one another that way usually indicated bad experiences of the Lothor variety. Maddie had no intention of asking; the ninjas would talk about it when they were ready, _if_ they were ready, and Maddie was going to keep quiet and make herself safe until then. There wasn’t anything else she could do. But Clare, who didn’t care much for Christmas, decided to spend it at the Wind Academy, thus freeing up Cam’s team from keeping an eye on him.

“Nothing happened,” Clare assured Maddie, quickly but not too quickly. “We just have company and I need to talk to someone and I wanted to talk to you and Nick before I go to Aunt Udonna, and I’m pretty sure they’re asleep now and not going to set anything on fire. Accidentally, I mean.”

“They?” Maddie prompted. She tied her favorite warm robe over her pajamas. “Also, I need hot chocolate for this conversation, so we’re going to the kitchen. Downstairs,” she added pointedly.

“Oh, of course!” Clare agreed in a rushed whisper. “Anyway,” she continued as they started downstairs, “we had a guest show up last night. He was picked up by patrol on the Academy Grounds border. He says his name is RJ and that he’s from the Pai Zhua school.”

“Pai Zhua. Am I supposed to recognize that name?”

“I didn’t either, but the ninjas totally heard of it. It’s this really super-old school.”

“Ninja school?”

“No, they’re way more ancient than the ninjas. Cam says they’re Kung Fu.”

Maddie raised her eyebrows. “Cam actually said that?”

They entered the kitchen.

“Well, not like that, but you know how Cam is,” Clare said. “That’s totally what he meant.”

“You’re better at translating Cam-to-English than I am.”

“You can get Tori to stop trying to freak everyone else out because _she's_ freaked out. You don’t get to talk.”

Maddie didn’t like having that commented on. Clare knew that, what with every non-ninja Ranger that they knew commenting on their Team as a whole having that effect on the entire ninja Team. Still, Maddie was first to comment on Clare’s knack with Cam, so she figured Clare deserved to poke her back. She continued mixing hot chocolate for two. “So, this Pai Zhua guy shows up.”

“Says that his school is guarding this super-ancient evil. They always have three appointed Guardians, and they have a prophecy saying that this evil will escape and the three will destroy it.”

Maddie’s breath caught at the word _three_ and, by the time Clare paused, her hands stilled. “Rangers?” Three was the magic number when it came to Rangers, not five. Teams of five were more common, but you could have a Team with just Red, Blue and Yellow, and you couldn’t have a Team without those three.

“They could be.” Clare twisted the fabric of her shirt. “That’s what RJ sought Cam out for. They don’t have morphers.”

“And RJ figured it out. How did he get to Cam?”

“He just knew where the Wind Academy is. Well, the Thunder Academy too, but the ninja Team was based in Blue Bay Harbor, so he went to the Wind Academy first.”

Maddie forced herself to move. She put both cups in the microwave oven, set the timer and turned around to face Clare again. “How’s Cam taking it?”

“He stayed up all night to interrogate RJ?”

“That could go both ways.”

“Interrogate him so he can build him better morphers. He didn’t actually call Justin yet, but…”

“Oh god.” Maddie massaged her temples. “Yeah, okay. We’re going to need to tell…” Something occurred to her. “Please say that he’s told Shane.”

“Of _course_ he didn’t,” Clare said exasperatedly, forgetting to keep her voice down. Maddie shushed her and Clare gave her a Look and continued in a furious whisper: “And if no one makes him stop he’ll just keep going until the morphers are ready and forget to eat and sleep and even Cam can’t create three morphers before either he collapses or the Power kicks in, and that’s to say nothing of everything that goes with morphers. You know what Cam’s like, the idea that there are potential Rangers out there who are defenseless while they don’t have morphers will drive him _crazy._ And I don’t know if Shane will help,” her voice had gone up again but this time she brought it down without being prompted. “Shane’ll stop him from getting himself killed and that’s about it.”

“Which of the ninjas went crazy this time?”

Nick’s voice made both of them startle.

“Nick!” Clare squeaked.

He stepped into the kitchen with that smile that meant he wasn’t really ignoring their reaction, but he didn’t think it worth it to acknowledge it. “Judging by the pronouns, I assume it’s not Tori.”

“Cam’s been told there are three people who’ll need morphers at an unspecified time in the future to defeat an ancient evil. Seriously ancient evil. Also, you can’t have Clare’s hot chocolate.”

“I would say that I like coffee better anyway but right now, I’m going to check if there’s any eggnog left,” Nick retorted. He made no move towards the fridge, though. “This worth bothering Justin over?”

“No way to know without getting Dustin or Marah in on it.” _And the three of them are spending Christmas together,_ Maddie didn’t say. Nick knew that and he knew what it meant.

“Yeah, we’re going to have to talk to Shane,” Nick agreed matter-of-factly. “Tori’ll yell at him later, but that’s her problem.”

It wasn’t that simple. Both Clare and Nick were right: Cam would need to be made to slow down, and his team would be useless for it. Maddie nodded, to herself as much as to Nick and Clare. “You two go get Shane. I’ll talk to your mom - maybe she can make Cam see sense. But first, we need to wake Vida up first and explain things.”

“She’s gonna hate us,” Nick said.

“Well, someone’ll have to tell our parents what the emergency is this time.”

“I am _so_ telling her it’s your idea,” Nick said. The microwave oven dinged. “But you can have your hot chocolate before your sister kills us all.”

 

* * *

_Thursday, 11 January, 2007_

 

Maddie and Xander were just heading out of World Society when her phone rang. Maddie fished it out and put it next to her ear as they walked down the hall. “Hi, Mom.”

“Hi, Maddie. Listen, honey, I think you may want to be home for dinner tonight.”

“Why, what’s going on?” Maddie kept her tone light and neutral, but her mom’s request was worrying. She tried to visit Briarwood only on the weekends, and only for a few hours each time; she could go home for dinner every day if she wanted except that there was only so much privacy in college, and she could hardly say “Oh, I just took the trees home.”

“It seems we’re having LeeLee and Clare tonight,” her mom said carefully.

Maddie paused and stepped nearer to the wall. Xander automatically got between her and the stream of people, giving her as much privacy as was possible. It was her mom’s voice that set her off: there was something wry and knowing in it, sad almost.

“Why, what happened?” Maddie asked.

“LeeLee and Phineas broke up.”

“ _What?_ Why? They were fine two weeks ago.” Maddie shook her head. “This is probably one of LeeLee’s dramas, it’s been forever since she threw one of those.”

“No, honey, it’s not. She finally realized that Phineas can’t move away from Briarwood, and he figured it out several months back.”

Maddie took a moment to process through that. “ _Phineas_ is breaking up with her?”

Xander glanced back at her.

Then her mom’s words caught up with her. “And you agree?” Maddie demanded.

Her mom’s tone was sad. “She deserves choices, honey.”

“Well, what if this is her choice? What if she really does love him?” Phineas deserved better than that. “Phineas had been an outcast all his life, Mom, nobody ever wanted him or trusted him, obviously he’ll think he’s not good enough for LeeLee, he loves her to pieces -”

“Maddie,” her mom said, gently.

Maddie paused.

“No matter what either of their reasons are, right now Phineas is very certain and LeeLee is very upset. She’ll be coming here tonight, because both she and Nikki recognize that while Nikki would do anything for her…”

“LeeLee probably doesn’t need her mother ripping her boyfriend apart, literally,” Maddie muttered. Necrolai hardly showed in Nikki, but her daughter being hurt was apparently the exception. Clare was LeeLee’s best friend; she stood the best chance at weathering whatever temper LeeLee was in, and it wouldn’t be a bad idea to keep her away from Phineas for a while. “You think she’ll want me there?”

“I think she needs all the friends she has, at least tonight. Everything else is going to take time, Maddie. Those are some very complicated decisions to make, even if it isn’t your first relationship.”

The former part of her mom’s words was true, and the latter was her way of reminding Maddie that having won a war - and successfully kept it from her parents for half a year - didn’t prepare her for everything in life.

“All right, Mom. See you in a couple hours.”

Xander glanced at her as they resumed walking. “Phineas breaking up with LeeLee?”

“Something like that. It’s complicated.”

“Sounds like it. You making a girls’ night out of it?”

“Something like that.”

Xander nodded. “I’ll pick up some extra chocolate for you. There’s that nice place downtown - LeeLee’ll love it. I mean...”

“I know.” The attention, he meant. LeeLee was a whole lot easier to get along with than she used to be, but she was still just as starved for proof that anyone cared. “Thanks, Xander.”

He shrugged. “Little I can do.”

That made Maddie wonder who was watching out for Phineas, but - Phineas would just head straight to wherever Fire Heart was; and where Fire Heart was, someone of Nick’s family would be.

Maddie glanced at Xander again. _She needs all the friends she has,_ her mom said of LeeLee. Xander was a friend to LeeLee. He got her much better than Maddie did, really. _She needs all the friends she has._ But not quite, not that night. Xander hadn’t even offered, and it wasn’t from lack of ego. That night would be for the girls, for people LeeLee would feel safer pouring her heart out to.

But one day, Maddie thought, one day she would tell LeeLee that the fancy chocolate had come from Xander.

 

* * *

_Wednesday, 14 February, 2007_

 

The first thing Nick said when he picked her up in the evening was: “Xander suggested I call in a raincheck.”

He was still holding on to her helmet.

“He did,” she said.

Nick’s expression shifted in a complicated way. “He said you developed a newfound hatred of Valentine’s.”

Maddie used to think her team had no respect for privacy. That was before she got to know the ninjas - and Xander was spending entirely too much time with Cam and Dustin, who were possibly the worst of a bad lot. “Xander is a traitor.”

She didn’t expect Valentine’s to be a problem. It never had been in high school, when she was the shy girl that nobody would ever ask out. But then Ethan had shown up at breakfast to warn Xander and her from making any sly comments at Blake and Tori - “They go away on Valentine’s because it’s bad memories, not to have wild sex” - and then LeeLee had called in tears, and the day just grated on Maddie more and more since.

Nick continued. “You want to turn around right now, that’s fine by me. It really is. But you gotta say so now.”

He meant it, she knew. If Nick showed up after Xander had warned him off, then Nick had shown up fully prepared to be told to go away.

She kicked at an imaginary pebble. “What if I really want to get away but I really can’t stand the idea of a date right now?”

He tossed her the helmet. “Then we’re going to ride along fun wet roads at high speeds until you've had enough, and then we’ll go and see what Daggeron and Chip are cooking over the fire tonight. Or we can go see what Dad cooked, if you want dinner that wasn’t trying to kill anyone earlier today.”

She smiled, relaxing for the first time that day. “I think I’ll take option number two.”

“That’s probably the smart choice.”

 

* * *

_Saturday, 24 February, 2007_

 

Outside it was pouring rain. Whether it was cold depended on your standards; Briarwood hadn’t been that warm since October and wouldn’t be again until March. Maddie was perfectly comfortable in short sleeves. Tori was wearing long sleeves, but at least her shoulders weren’t excessively pulled back, anymore. It was just the two of them in the house: Blake was spending the weekend in Stone Canyon, and Maddie moved herself in for the duration.

Outside it was raining, the wind making the branches slap against each other and against the houses. The two of them were in the kitchen, Maddie shaping gnocchi with a fork while Tori was a few feet away by the stove, cooking the vodka sauce.

 _Lullaby for a Stormy Night_ was still playing on an endless loop when Maddie joined Tori by the stove to cook the gnocchi.

The first gnocchi were already in the saucepan when Maddie said: “Can I ask you something?”

“Already did,” Tori tossed back. Her tone was a little too neutral, though.

Maddie waited it out.

Eventually, Tori said: “I can always not answer, and you won’t ask again.”

It wasn’t that sort of a question that Maddie had on her mind. That wasn’t the sort of thing she did, though she did file away that she could, if she ever thought she needed to know.

She didn’t lead with the question she wanted to ask, either. “You and Blake have been living together for three years, right?”

“Two and a half next month.” Tori needlessly stirred the saucepan. “Not that anyone’s counting.”

And there it was, the thing that Maddie was trying to understand. “How come you’re not married yet? I mean…” The question asked, Maddie wanted to take it back. Tori was more likely to talk about the war against Lothor than she was to talk about her and Blake’s relationship.

Tori cut her off, voice too devoid of inflection. “Because like fuck I’m marrying before I’m out of college. And besides, my parents would throw a fit.” She glanced at Maddie and asked, in a more natural tone of voice: “You and Nick going to get married?”

“We haven’t talked about it,” Maddie admitted. She kept her eyes on the gnocchi in the boiling water. “We haven’t really talked about any of it.”

She could see Tori shrug in her peripheral vision. “Not everyone does.”

“How do you know?” She looked up, turning to Tori.

Tori met her gaze. “It’s not the same, Maddie. We paid too much for this.”

 _Hunter,_ she meant. The ninjas had paid a steep price for Hunter’s fear of abandonment in the face of Blake and Tori’s relationship.

 _How do I know?_ Maddie wanted to ask, but that wasn’t a question Tori could answer.

She gathered the floating gnocchi with the slotted spoon and moved them to the saucepan, and put a new batch of gnocchi in.

 

* * *

_Thursday, 22 March, 2007_

 

Xander rapped on her room’s door frame. “Ready?”

Maddie looked up from fastening the last straps on her frame pack. “Why are you smiling?”

“I’m not smiling.”

“You’re smiling like you just closed a particularly sweet deal.” She shouldered the pack.

“I’m smiling because my very first spring break is about to begin?”

Their very first spring break was about to begin, and the first anniversary of their destroying the Master for good had just passed. It would have been less bad than having the anniversary of their becoming Rangers on the first week of their very first semester, if not for the matter of exams. However...

“If that were true it would’ve been your first answer,” she retorted. “Besides, I know what your holiday plans really are.”

They made their way to the stairs.

“Ah, see, that’s where you’re wrong. What’s the first rule of management?”

“You mean Xander’s first rule of management? Delegate.”

“Exactly.”

“And who did you con into doing the genius-wrangling for you?”

“For shame, Maddie. Besides, who’s been telling me for the past half a year that it’s not a job for a single person?” He paused for dramatic effect, and finished: “Oh, that’s right: you.”

“I know you,” she reminded him. “And I know how you’ve been ‘delegating’ at the Rockporium.”

“And LeeLee’s not going to let me get away with that any more than the rest of you did. Less, probably.”

Maddie stopped in her track where they were at the bottom of the stairs. “LeeLee?” she demanded. “You talked LeeLee into this?”

“She’s going to be _brilliant._ ”

“LeeLee.”

“And she needed a distraction.”

That gave Maddie a pause. Two months later LeeLee was doing better, but she really could use something time-intensive to do; and Xander was right - LeeLee’s attitude made her perfect for precisely those aspects he’d been struggling with.

“Well, you’re right that she’ll be great.” Xander grinned, and she cut him off before he could continue. “And you’re right that she won’t put up with any crap from you, so you’d better treat her right.”

They resumed walking.

“I have absolutely no intention of chasing her off.”

He did have some other intentions, judging by that tone of voice, but the sight that greeted them outside the building made Maddie stop in her tracks again.

Vida was leaning back against her pickup truck. She pushed her tinted sunglasses up when she spotted her sister.

“Maddie!”

“Vida?” Maddie hugged her. “What are you doing here?”

“What does it look like I’m doing?”

“Aren’t you supposed to be in LA?”

“And in a few hours that’s where you’re going to be, too.”

Something occurred to Maddie. She turned to Xander. “You knew!”

“Yes, I did. Now go on. Spring break beckons.”

“Come on, Maddie,” Vida said. “We’re going to have _fun._ ”

It was the tone of her voice that got Maddie. It wasn’t that they didn’t get to see each other, exactly; both of them have been using magic to make it regularly to Briarwood. But it was true that they didn’t spend anywhere near as much time together as they used to when they were both regularly living under the same roof. Maddie could feel that absence, if she paused and took a deep breath.

“You’re right,” she acknowledged. She got on tiptoe to hug Xander. “See you around. Be careful with yourself and others.”

“I will,” he promised. “Get some sunlight, it’ll do you good.”

“I will,” she promised in reply. She tossed her bag in the back of the truck. “All right. Let’s go.”

 

* * *

_Wednesday, 28 March, 2007_

 

LA was big and bright, impossibly crowded and incredibly sunny. Maddie hadn’t been prepared for it, and she vacillated between basking in the sunlight and the crowds, and hiding out wherever Vida, Kira and Cassie happened to be. Which was usually Cassie’s place, as it was easier to move Vida’s equipment where Cassie’s home studio was than the other way around.

Cassie’s and Jason’s space wasn’t that small, but it wasn’t that big, either. It was actually remarkable how well six people fit into the space. Trent was also around, more often than not; he liked crowds even less than Maddie did, and the novelty factor had long worn off for him. For an open-floor plan, the apartment had surprisingly a lot of options for privacy. Maddie was mostly left be when she was in: Trent wasn’t likely to initiate interaction with anyone when he wasn’t putting on the kind of charm that reminded Maddie of Blake, and for all that Jason was affectionate with Cassie he seemed more reserved with the other women, and Maddie more than all of them. Maddie was free to curl up by the big bay window, or follow people around with her camera.

It took her a while to realize that she hadn’t spent this much time with her camera in a startlingly long time. She’d taken Film Experience in the autumn quarter, but she hadn’t actually touched a camera since. It was comforting to see the world through the lense of her camera, again.

She’d drawn the light curtains closed and was editing on her laptop at her favorite spot by the window. She looked up at the sound of a cup set down on the coffee table.

Cassie sat down across from her.

“Hi,” Maddie said, a little surprised.

“Hi back,” Cassie replied with a smile. “We’re taking a bit of a break. Vida’s gone to beat on things. Kira’s bothering Trent, I think.”

“Jason still stuck in traffic?”

“Yeah.”

Which explained why there was no dinner being cooked yet.

Beat.

“How are you?” Cassie asked.

“I’m good,” Maddie replied. It was an automatic response. She wasn’t sure what to make of of Cassie’s question. Cassie had sounded a little abrupt.

“How’s college treating you?”

“It’s, you know, college.”

“Actually, I wouldn’t know. I kinda skipped that part.”

“Anyone of your team did?” Maddie asked curiously.

Cassie settled back in the chair. “Yes. Actually - I think I’m the only one of us from Earth who didn’t go to college. If you call fashion school college; Carlos still gives Ashley grief sometimes.”

“Xander and I are the only ones from our team.” Two out of five shouldn’t feel like such a minority, but it did. Nick and Vida didn’t even consider the idea. Vida moved a state and a half away but in a way, Nick had made a greater transition; like Chip, his life belonged in the Forest. He was so supportive, never disinterested in her life at Santa Cruz, but sometimes Maddie felt so lonely. Even Xander was mostly focused on his work at Cam’s baby company.

“Everything okay?” Cassie asked gently.

“Just thinking,” Maddie said. “Is it very different? Working with other Rangers?”

“Having been Rangers is not what made any of us be a musician, or even want to be a musician. It’s just how we found each other.”

“Yeah, I guess. It’s just…”

Cassie waited silently.

“What’s with the twenty questions, anyway?” Maddie asked, and then put her face between her hands. “Oh god, I sound like Blake.”

“Relax, it’s okay,” Cassie told her. “Well, maybe not, but you don’t have to talk about it. I just thought I’d ask, in case you wanted to talk.”

Maddie opened her mouth to reassure Cassie, and found herself laughing instead as she realized what was going on. This was what _she_ did, go after the ones who went by themselves and coax them to talk. She couldn’t recall ever being on this side of this routine.

Eventually, she said: “I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing. I don’t know what I’m _supposed_ to do. I always thought I’d go to college, get a job, but is this what I want to do now? Do I want to live in this world, or the other? How are Nick and I going to work, if I choose this world?” _Are Nick and I going to work?_ Maddie stopped.

Cassie spoke before Maddie could apologize for dumping all that on her. “It’s all right to freak out over all this, you know. People freak out over any of those things, let alone all of them at once, let alone with the _complications._ ”

“How did you decide?”

“I didn’t; I just did things.” Cassie considered her. “But that worked for me.”

Implied was, _It wouldn’t work for you._ Maddie agreed. “Yeah.”

“You know, I think Jason has a point,” Cassie said slowly. “Did anyone mention Zack to you?”

“No,” Maddie replied. “Actually, I don’t think Jason likes me too much. I don’t know what I did -”

Cassie cut her off. “You didn’t do anything. He doesn’t dislike you. He’s just… wary of approaching you.”

“What? Why?”

“Took him forever to dare approach Vida, too. And you’re kinda Tori’s baby, and he and Tori had a bad start.”

Maddie had no idea what Cassie was trying to say. She let it show on her face, and Cassie’s own expression turned into startled confusion in reply.

“You know you’re the first team the ninjas actually _like,_ right?”

“No,” Maddie replied honestly. “They get along with the Dinos.”

Cassie choked back something that may or may not have been laughter. “I’d tell you to ask Ethan about the first time his team and the ninjas met, but honestly? I don’t think he’ll talk about it. Shane’s team doesn’t really like or trust any of us except Lightspeed, and they had to work at it for a few years, too. You’re pretty special.”

It wasn’t that Maddie didn’t know the ninjas were suspicious and defensive; she knew. She just hadn’t realized - but in hindsight, all the other Rangers who’d come to her team had gone through the ninjas, first, except for the Dinos’ very first visit. Checking in, appeasing the ninjas’ protectiveness. Well, no - they’d gone to Wild Force but, now that Maddie thought about it, they’d gone to Turtle Cove with Dustin.

Cassie was still watching her closely.

“I didn’t know,” she said honestly.

Cassie nodded. “I realize that now.”

“So who’s Zack?” Maddie asked after a moment.

“He and Jason have been friends since forever. Then they were teammates - the First Team became Rangers together.”

“Was Zack Blue?”

“No, he was Black.”

Maddie _knew_ her body communicated her surprise. “I thought Jason was Black.”

Cassie laughed, a brief, wry thing. “No, Jason was Red on that team.”

 _Red._ Taylor had been at the front of Wild Force when Maddie’s team met them, she remembered: Cole, their Red, had been absent, and Alyssa and Max had only weak excuses. Carter, Lightspeed’s Red, had been the last of his team to come up to Briarwood, and he’d seemed apprehensive despite that Ryan was all but a regular houseguest by then. Katie accompanied Ryan sometimes, and occasionally her teammates would accompany her, but Wes had never come. And Maddie had never met Conner, didn’t know if anyone from her team did -

Did Reds in particular avoid her team? Did they do that because of the ninjas? Did it have anything to do with Tori in particular? What Cassie had said hinted at that.

It was too much to take in at once.

Cassie continued, either oblivious to how Maddie’s thoughts were racing, or deliberately giving her space. “Zack is also a psychologist,” she said carefully. “If you want to talk to someone - to someone who won’t pass anything on, who’ll reflect back and just help you work things out, no other demands on you - then Zack’s pretty well-positioned to do that.”

Maddie’s first, instinctive response to the word _psychologist_ had been _I don’t need a shrink,_ but Cassie’s elaboration answered that without Maddie needing to say it out loud.

“Did you talk to him?”

“Yes,” Cassie said simply. “Look, I don’t really know you, but from what I’ve been hearing, you’ve been doing a lot for your team and your family. It’s okay to want a sounding board. It’s okay to need one.”

“I’ll think about it,” Maddie said. She probably would, but she said it also to try and wrap this conversation up. She had a lot to think about, and it was getting exhausting.

Cassie nodded. “I’ll give you his card, okay? So you don’t need to tell me what you decide, when you decide. And since I know it’s going to come up if you do decide to talk to Zack - there’s a Ranger fund.”

“A lot of thought went into this.”

Cassie’s smile was wry again, so different than the vibrant, centered woman Maddie had seen over the past week. “We watch out for each other. This is part of that, too.”

 

* * *

_Thursday, 5 April, 2007_

 

“I’m fine. Everyone’s fine.”

Maddie shifted her phone to her other shoulder. “And why should I think you’re _not_ fine?” she asked her sister.

Beat. “Because there are new Rangers.”

Maddie stopped dead in the middle of the hallway. _New Rangers._ And Vida said -

“Maddie?”

“In LA? The new Rangers are in LA?”

“Technically, they’re in San Angeles.”

“They’re in Los Angeles or you wouldn’t have called me. Oh my god -” Maddie closed her eyes and opened them again. “Do Mom and Dad know?”

“They’re my next call. I figured at least one of them is bound to spook and I didn’t want you finding out from anyone else.”

Yes. While Maddie’s classmates didn’t know that she was a Ranger, they did know she was from a Ranger town, and her hanging out with Tori and Ethan had not gone unnoticed. She would be catching odd looks for a while.

She took a deep breath. “Call them. I’ll go find Xander, I don’t want him finding out from anyone else, either.”

“Maddie.” Vida’s voice became softer. “We’re fine. I promise.”

Maddie forced herself to resume walking. “Stay safe.”

 

* * *

_Tuesday, 17 April, 2007_

 

Zack’s office didn’t look much like an office. The collection of chairs and sofas around a coffee table looked like a living room, more than anything. There wasn’t a desk anywhere in sight. It was a living room arranged with great care, though, and Maddie didn’t miss that none of the seats had their back to the wall - or to the windows, really. The Venetian blinds were angled, breaking the line of sight from the street to the room while still letting plenty of daylight in.

Zack himself was sitting in a beanbag. The beanbag was situated across from the door and a little to the side, a good balance between having a good line of sight on the door and not being visible until she was in most of the way.

Zack smiled and stood up. “Hi. You must be Maddie.”

He was only an inch or two taller than she was, about Nick’s height; more solid than Nick was, but nowhere near as heavy as Jason, either.

She closed the door behind her and offered a smile. “And you must be Zack.”

“Please, come in.”

The seats were various sizes, various positions. Maddie scanned them, trying to not appear as if she was hesitating.

“It’s not an exam,” Zack told her.

Her eyes snapped to him, and then shifted to the beanbag behind him. _Am I paranoid, or is that beanbag awfully new?_ It was the sort of thing Nick or Tori would ask. Maddie didn’t. She chose the overstuffed chair almost across from the beanbag instead.

Zack, of course, didn’t return to the beanbag but rather sat on the four-seater perpendicular to both it and the chair Maddie chose. He settled on the second seat from her.

“So, how’s school going?” he asked. “You’re a freshman, right?”

It was an innocuous question. Or it was supposed to be; it hit too close to home, and Maddie had been nervous already. “Okay. It’s going okay.”

He caught on to her nervousness, she could tell: his focus shifted, the laid-back front becoming less convincing for a moment. Then he relaxed most of the way back. “I’ll tell you what. Why don’t you just talk about whatever? We don’t have to talk about why you’re here right away,” he continued, forestalling her question. “Maybe we should reserve that for when you’re not looking halfway ready to bolt out that door.”

She huffed and relaxed herself deliberately, settling into the chair. “Do I really look that nervous?”

“Nowhere even near. But it got your attention, didn’t it?”

 

* * *

_Friday, 20 April, 2007_

 

Maddie raised her eyebrows as she stepped out of the building to find Nick lounging outside.

“Fancy meeting you here.”

He reached to remove her bag from her back, and she let him.

“I’m hiding,” he informed her.

“O-kay,” she said agreeably. They started walking down the path. “Who are you hiding from?”

“Clare,” he muttered. “I owe Cam one. _You_ owe Cam one. And Xander should run for the hills.”

So Clare was angry with Xander for some reason, and Cam was involved somehow. This probably had something to do with one of Cam’s research projects. The only question was whether it was the Pai Zhua morphers project, or something intended for the Grid Tech Industries catalogue. It didn’t make much sense, though: Clare was hardly involved with the latter, and the former wasn’t really Xander’s domain.

“What did Xander do?”

“LeeLee. Well, he didn’t do LeeLee, but it’s about LeeLee.”

So _that’s_ what happened. It was about Cam’s projects only tangentially. “So Xander finally asked her out.”

Nick gave her a sideways look. “You knew?”

“Nick, he’s been giving her moon-eyes since the first time she walked into the Rockporium.” She paused. “But I didn’t think he was going to try for months more. He’s pushy, but he’s not…”

“He didn’t. LeeLee did. She didn’t ask _him_ yet, but she did ask Clare what she thinks of him.”

LeeLee was happy with the GTI work. She was even talking about transferring from the Briarwood community college to the University of Oregon down in Eugene. It was close enough to drive home on the weekends, and it also had a terrific business program; Xander had only passed it up because the lure of the Ranger hub at Santa Cruz was too great. Maddie had feared that Xander would be jealous of that but instead he’d been genuinely happy for her, bragging almost.

Both GTI and the University of Oregon were Xander’s ideas. LeeLee was still half-expecting the sort of scheming and backstabbing that had been the norm in the Pit. The entire team was protective of LeeLee that way and Clare, LeeLee’s first friend, most of all. If Xander did anything that even _looked_ like it may be hurting LeeLee in any way Clare would tear him apart. “But if LeeLee’s shown interest in _him…_ ”

“It’s a lose-lose situation for him,” Nick said. “You know Clare. He accepts, she’ll accuse him of taking advantage of LeeLee. He doesn’t accept, she’ll tear him apart for breaking her heart.”

“Well, she’s definitely your cousin.” Nick didn’t even try to pretend he didn’t know what that meant.

“Yes, she is.”

“Don’t sound so proud.”

“Hey, my cousin’s kickass.”

“She is. And we both owe Cam for letting her vent at him.”

 

* * *

_Tuesday, 1 May, 2007_

 

Maddie closed the door behind her. This time Zack was at the corner of his usual couch when she came in. “I heard you had freak weather earlier this week.”

“Did a little pixie tell you?”

She dropped on the other end of the couch. “Or a little Ptera.”

He raised an eyebrow.

“Actually, it was Trent,” she admitted. “Calling to ask if I could talk to Vida, so Cassie could do damage control without distractions.”

“This is beginning to sound like a pattern,” he remarked.

“It is,” she admitted. “I mean, Vida’s my sister, _that_ makes sense, but -” She turned her palms upwards. Her classmates and dorms-neighbours had a tendency to bring her conflicts, or gossip that could turn into conflicts, and expect her to resolve those; there’d been a handful of those incidents just in the couple weeks she’d been talking to Zack. “Maybe I should do this for a living.”

“You could, if you want to.”

Funny how that statement felt like a blow, in how it almost made her breath catch. _Did_ she want to? What exactly was ‘this’?

It was a few moments before she said: “I’m not even sure what I’m doing at college. I mean - I don’t have to. Nobody at the Forest is going to require me to have a degree for anything. It’s not like I ever gave a thought to college beyond obviously I was going to go. And even if I did, I couldn’t have known about - about the Rangers, about the Forest.” She paused. It was another moment before she steeled herself and said: “That’s actually why I’m here. Talking to you, I mean.”

“You sound apologetic,” he noted.

She shifted, tucking herself into the corner of the couch. “I feel a little bit silly.”

“I don’t think you’re silly, or that this is a silly thing to want help with. Those are some fairly serious decisions you’re talking about. They’re difficult enough even without the special circumstances.” He paused. “It’s not the end of the world if you feel overwhelmed.”

The statement took a split-moment to parse, and then Maddie started laughing. She couldn’t help it. Zack laughed, too. Maddie thought he totally meant the double entendre. “It’s really not, isn’t it,” she said once she had enough air. “It’s not the end of the world.”

“It’s really, really not.”


End file.
